


The Way Our Horizons Meet

by theartofbeinganerd



Series: Astronaut AU [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Astronaut AU, F/M, Fitzsimmons Really Don't Waste Any Time, Fluff, Like...At All, Whirlwind Romance, childhood best friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theartofbeinganerd/pseuds/theartofbeinganerd
Summary: "Growing up, you always said you would marry an astronaut. So I became one to show you how I feel."The original Astronaut AU, now posted on its own to make for easier reading.





	The Way Our Horizons Meet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: "Fitzsimmons 'Growing up, you always said you would marry an astronaut. So I became one to show you how I feel.'"
> 
> From ch 54 of my fic collection, Tethered
> 
> *Title taken from All of the Stars by Ed Sheeran
> 
> I got an ask on tumblr mentioning that it was a bit difficult going back and forth between this one shot in my collection, and the new sequel I just posted, so I figured this would just make things easier!

Ever since she was very little, and her father had started taking her outside at night to stare up at the sky, Jemma Simmons had loved the stars. Even now that it had been a few years and she was a bit older, it was still Jemma’s very favorite thing to do on warm summer nights, to throw a blanket down in her backyard and lie back to gaze up at the stars that she loved so dearly.

However, it was never as fun as it was when her best friend in the world, Fitz, was lying beside her, like he was that night.

“Can you imagine living among the stars?” she asked him in a hushed voice, barely loud enough to be heard over the chirping of crickets in the bushes nearby. “I just know that’s where I belong, you know. Just  _look_  at them, Fitz.” Jemma lifted a hand, pointing to the constellations above them.

“They’re amazing,” Fitz agreed, matching her whispered tone.

“Someday,” she started, lowering her voice even more as she confessed to the secret dream she’d had for some time, “I’m going to marry an astronaut, so we can go to the stars together.”

He didn’t say anything at first, making her a bit anxious, but then he asked curiously, “Why don’t you just become an astronaut?”

Pursing her lips, Jemma mulled the question over for a moment, but then she shook her head and told him, “Well I could, but then I’d have to go alone – at least if I marry an astronaut, then we can go to the stars together. And besides,” she added with a little grin, “I’ve got it all planned out; I’m going to be a biologist – or a chemist, I haven’t decided yet – and then I’ll marry my astronaut, and we’ll go live on Mars together, and start a new civilization there.”

Fitz grew quiet once more, though his silence began to stretch on a little longer this time. Abruptly, Jemma realized that she’d left out the most important part of her plans.

“And you can come visit us anytime on Mars, of course. You could even live there with us! Because we’ll still be best friends, obviously – I mean, we’ll  _always_  be best friends.” Her tone was emphatic, just as firm as the belief she had in her statement was; she couldn’t even begin to imagine a world where Fitz  _wasn’t_  her best friend.

After a moment, Fitz’s voice filled the darkness around them, much softer than hers had been as he agreed, “Always.”

-

More than a little exhausted, but beaming with excitement, Jemma shut the door to her flat behind her and tossed her purse onto the counter as she called out, “Daisy?”

“In the living room!” her roommate, Daisy, responded, her voice echoing through the little flat.

“We finally found an anti-serum for that virus,” Jemma informed her happily as she toed off her shoes and carefully nudged them into their place beside the front door.

“ _Great_ ,” Daisy replied, the relief in her tone obvious even across the short distance between them, “I finally don’t have to worry about contracting a deadly virus without a vaccine when I’m doing laundry.”

Rolling her eyes, Jemma entered the living room then, reminding Daisy pointedly, “It’s an  _anti-serum_ , not a vaccine,” as she dropped onto the couch beside her.

“Oh  _whatever_.” Daisy let out a groan of annoyance then as she complained, “There’s never anything good on TV, I swear.” Lifting the remote, she began flicking through the channels at a steady pace, passing by children’s programming and badly-written drama shows.

Then, Jemma caught sight of a report on a local news station, talking about a NASA rocket launch that was coming up soon. “Oh, leave it here for a moment,” she requested, settling in to watch the report curiously. She’d heard brief mentions here and there about the launch, but she’d been so busy in the lab with the anti-serum that she hadn’t had much time to do her own research on it, like she normally tended do with upcoming NASA missions.

Currently, they were talking about how a group of astronauts were going to be heading up to the International Space Station, where they would then send a new and improved probe to Mars. “ _We have one of the lead engineers on the project here with us now_ ,” the reporter was saying, just as the image on the screen cut to a man with closely-cropped curls, a stubbled beard, and brilliant blue eyes.

Frowning, Jemma unconsciously leant in a bit closer to study the man, finding something so  _familiar_  about him. Truthfully, he almost looked like…

But, that just had to be her imagination, of course. It wasn’t actually –

Just as she was trying to convince herself she was wrong, a banner stretched across the bottom of the screen, declaring the man Dr. Leopold Fitz. As she was proven startlingly correct, Jemma gasped violently, her eyes growing wide as she scrambled to sit up straight.

Fitz was talking now, explaining a little more about the mission and the probe and…that  _voice_  – it was older and more mature than the last time she’d heard it, of course, but she’d recognize that accent anywhere, would recognize that smile and his slightly awkward chuckle and the way he nervously scratched at the back of his neck as he talked.

“Jemma?” Daisy prompted worriedly. “What’s going on?”

“ _Shh_ ,” Jemma shushed her hastily, fumbling for the remote so that she could turn the sound up higher.

“ _When are you due to launch?_ ” the reporter was asking Fitz.

“ _Um, well, if everything goes to plan, then we’re set to launch in just a few days_ ,” Fitz answered, and Jemma noticed him tugging at his ear uncomfortably. Her heart filled with a warmth that she hadn’t felt in such a long time at the sight of the familiar old mannerism.

“ _And how long will you be gone?_ ”

“ _Ah, yes, well that depends on everything working out right, but it should be a little over six months_ ,” he replied, shrugging slightly as he gave a slight smile.

“ _Thank you for your time, Dr. Fitz, and good luck._ ”

Fitz thanked the reporter, then he disappeared from the screen, and the station moved onto their next story for the night. Jemma sagged back against the couch, unable to believe…after all this  _time_ …

“What’s going on?” Daisy repeated, her tone slightly more demanding as she said the words this time.

Absently, Jemma asked, “Do you remember me mentioning my old friend Fitz?”

“Well yeah, you talk about him all the…” She trailed off suddenly, before letting out a sharp gasp. “Wait, that was  _him_?” When Jemma nodded, she asked, “Why did you never mention that he was an astronaut? That’s so cool!”

Shrugging expressively, Jemma admitted, “I hadn’t had the first clue that he was one, to be honest; we haven’t seen each other since we graduated from high school and went our separate ways to university. We kept in touch for awhile, but eventually it got too hard with everything else going on in our lives at the time.” She was quiet a moment, thinking back on the last time she’d seen Fitz, the last time they’d spoken, and her heart ached at how much time had been allowed to pass since then without another word between them. Almost to herself, she added softly, “I always knew that he’d wanted to be an engineer, but…”

Even though the report was over, she was still staring at the screen where he’d been minutes before, almost in a daze as she thought about how long it truly had been, how much she’d  _missed_  him, how different he looked and sounded. She had to wonder what else was different about him, what had stayed the same, what else did he have going on his life now?

And more importantly, did he ever wonder about her the way that she often wondered about him?

Out of nowhere, Daisy spoke up to say, “You should go see him.”

Even as she whirled around to gape at her in astonishment, Jemma would never admit that she was immediately tempted by the admittedly insane idea. To Daisy, however, she said, “I can’t just pack up and fly across the country to see  _Fitz_  – it’s been almost a decade since the last time we saw each other, and he might not even  _remember_  me, Daisy!”

Daisy scoffed disbelievingly at that, folding her arms over her chest. “Oh come on, that’s  _impossible_ , especially after how long you guys were friends. And plus, this is your last chance to see him for  _six months_ , and who knows where he’ll be after he gets back?” She gestured to the TV then, and insisted, “Jemma, this had to be a  _sign_. This is the universe telling you to go see him, and you can’t just  _ignore_  the universe.”

Fighting down the urge to remind Daisy that the universe didn’t give “signs”, she argued weakly, “What about work?”

“ _Work_? Jemma, you’ve never taken a sick day or a vacation – if they can’t give you time off to go see your childhood best friend, then they don’t deserve you.”

Chewing her lip anxiously, Jemma thought over the impulsive, crazy idea, and couldn’t help but feel that seeing Fitz again  _would_  be wonderful – there were days where he was all that she could think about, nights where she couldn’t sleep, too caught up in imagining what Fitz was doing at that very moment. Being without him, Jemma had found, was horrible, and she really would love to get back into touch, even if was only for a short time before he left.

So, she took a deep breath and decided to take a risk for once in her life, rushing to announce, “Okay, I’m going.”

“ _Yes_! Alright, Simmons!” Daisy cheered happily, sliding her phone out of her pocket as she offered, “I’ll find you the first flight available while you start packing.”

As Jemma sprung up to do just that, her heart surged in her chest with an overwhelming, nervous excitement, buzzing through her veins until it’d filled her from head to toe. With a quiet, disbelieving laugh, she thought to herself that she was really doing this; she was  _really_  going to see Fitz again.

-

The next day, Jemma found herself standing on what she’d been able to find out easily enough was Fitz’s doorstep, trembling with nerves and wondering now that she was there if this was even a good idea anymore.

What if he really didn’t remember her? Or, what if he did, and he was upset with her for not trying to see him sooner? What if this was all just one big mistake?

Shaking her head at herself for being so ridiculously impulsive, she whispered to herself, “What am I even  _doing_  here?”

Jemma began to turn around so that she could just leave and get on the first flight back home, but before she could even take a step, she paused. It occurred to her then that, there she was, with just a  _door_  separating her from Fitz; she was so close to him, so close to seeing him again after dreaming about it for  _years_.

With another quick shake of her head at how silly she was being (it was just  _Fitz_  after all, the one person in the world who’d always known her better than anyone), she took a deep, steadying breath and stepped back up to the door. Before she could allow herself the chance to lose her nerve once more, she lifted a fist to knock on the door, and then waited with baited breath, rocking back and forth on her heels anxiously.

It was a lengthy moment before she heard footsteps, her heartbeat picking up speed as the knob turned and the door opened and then…

And then he was standing there, right in front of her, and Jemma wanted to cry because he was real and he was  _Fitz_  and it had been far,  _far_  too long. He was staring wordlessly at her, eyes wide and jaw hanging open, so she shifted awkwardly and said simply, “Hi Fitz.”

She started to introduce herself, but then Fitz asked hoarsely, “Jemma? Is…is that really you?”

A brilliant grin burst across Jemma’s face, the urge to cry becoming stronger because he  _remembered_  her. With a watery little laugh, she replied teasingly, “Who else would it be?”

There was a beat of silence, then Fitz surged forward and embraced her, and Jemma promptly dropped her suitcase so that she could hug him back just as tightly, burying her face in his shoulder. How was it possible that he still smelled exactly the same? That he was just as warm and comforting as she’d remembered – she could have sworn that she’d built that up in her memory.

After a long moment of them simply embracing each other, Fitz mumbled into her shoulder, “What are you doing here?”

She laughed quietly, turning her head to press her face against his neck, breathing him in greedily as she told him, “I saw you on the news and…and my roommate convinced me to come see you.”

“I’m so glad that you did,” he murmured, “I’ve thought about trying to get back in touch with you for years, but…” His sentence trailed off then, moments before he pulled back. Though she was reluctant to let go after waiting so long to be close to him again, she forced herself to, stepping back to share a smile with him. “Come in,” he said quickly, leaning down to pick up her suitcase for her and leading her inside to sit on the little loveseat in his relatively small quarters. “D’you want some tea?”

“Oh, yes please,” Jemma answered as she had a brief look around. There wasn’t much to see, since it appeared that Fitz was only staying there for a little bit, and she couldn’t help but indulge in the idea of what Fitz’s actual home might look like – it’d be a lot messier than this, that was for sure.

He returned a few minutes later, holding two cups of tea, one of which he passed her before perching on the loveseat beside her. She took a little sip, and hid a smile at finding that he still remembered how she took it (just like she still remembered how he took his).

“So…what are you up to nowadays?” Fitz asked curiously, leaning back against the arm of the loveseat and focusing his full attention on her.

Jemma gave a little shrug, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear as she explained, “Well, I have degrees in both biology and chemistry, and I’ve worked in a couple of different labs since graduating from university, but I’ve been at the same one for about two years now. That’s…well, honestly, that’s where I spend most of my free time, and the rest I spend with my roommate, Daisy.” Cutting herself off there, she said wryly, “But none of that is nearly as interesting as your life, of course.” Shaking her head in awe, she admitted, “I just can’t believe that you’re an  _astronaut_ , Fitz.”

Fitz gave a slight shrug, flushing a little as he hastened to assure her, “Oh, it’s nothing, really.” Jemma opened her mouth to argue that it was certainly  _something_ , but he changed the subject before she could, asking, “How are your parents?”

It went on that way for some time, with them volleying questions back and forth to each other, spending the afternoon doing their best to catch up on everything that had happened in the ten years they’d spent apart. Eventually, though, Jemma caught sight of the time and said grudgingly, “I should probably go.”

Fitz didn’t seem too keen to see her leave either, standing up hastily to follow her to the door. “How long are you here for?”

She hesitated for a moment, then confessed, “Well, I haven’t…actually bought my ticket home yet, and I do have quite a bit of vacation time to use up, so…”

“Would you like to spend tomorrow together, then?” Fitz asked, seeming to jump at the chance, his eyes wide with hope. “I want to see you as much as possible before the launch.”

“I’d really like that,” Jemma assured him, a wide grin curving her lips to match the one currently stretching across Fitz’s face.

-

Over the next couple of days, Jemma spent every single moment that she possibly could with Fitz, continuing to catch up, going to museums, out to eat, or simply just spending time together like they used to. Sometimes, it was almost as though no time had passed, and they still were just two teenagers hanging out in his basement, watching movies with the lights off.

But, she was always quite quick to remember that they  _weren’t_  teenagers anymore, that they were grown adults now, and though time and distance had come between them, they’d found each other once more and their friendship was just as effortless as it had ever been.

On the last day before the launch, Jemma found herself constantly wishing that Fitz didn’t have to go, found that she selfishly wanted him to stay here, now that they were together again, now that she finally had him back in her life. However, she knew that that wasn’t possible, so she’d resolved to simply spend as much time of the day as possible together, which was exactly what she did.

Fitz had told her early that morning when she’d showed up at his quarters that he had a surprise for her, but that they’d have to wait until nighttime for her to receive it. After he’d passed the day by showing her around the space center, the sun had finally gone down, and Fitz drove them out to a little field, far away from the lights of the nearest town.

“What are we doing?” Jemma asked curiously as Fitz led the way out into the middle of the field, unfolding and laying out the blanket that he’d had draped over his arm.

“C’mon,” Fitz encouraged instead of answering her question, dropping down onto the blanket and lying back, patting the empty spot beside him.

With a very good idea now of what Fitz had in mind, Jemma pressed her lips together to hide her smile and knelt down beside him, then leaned back to lie down so that she could gaze up at the stars lighting the sky far above them. “This is wonderful, Fitz,” she murmured. “Thank you.”

“Um, actually, I…” He went quiet for a moment, clearly collecting his thoughts, before he went on, “Do you remember doing this, when we were kids?”

Not bothering to hold back her smile anymore, Jemma turned her head to look at him as she answered, “Of course I do; it was one of my favorite ways to spend summer nights.”

He inhaled, then exhaled shakily. “Do…do you remember what you used to say about the stars?”

Frowning, Jemma turned her gaze back to the stars that she knew so well, thinking back all those years to when they were young. But, even after a couple of minutes searching her memories, nothing terribly important was sticking out to her, so she admitted, “No, I don’t. What did I say?”

She heard him take another uneven breath, then whisper, “Growing up, you always said you would marry an astronaut. So…I became one to…to show you how I feel.”

In that moment, even though it was scientifically impossible, it felt as though time stopped, everything around her seeming to freeze as her heart skipped a beat in her chest. Did he really mean… Was he really saying that he…?

Everything suddenly felt upside down, nothing made sense anymore, and she wondered wildly how  _long_  he’d felt this way, wondered why he’d never said anything, wondered why  _now_ , after all this time?

Then, of course, she had to ask herself, how did  _she_  feel about it?

Jemma had to admit that she’d never thought of Fitz as anything more than her best friend in the world, but…but then she thought back over the past few days, thought about the way that he made her feel more than any of her boyfriends ever had, thought about how she just wanted to be with him, to be close to him, never wanted to be without him again, and…

And Jemma just knew, instinctively, that whatever it was that Fitz felt, she felt it too, and it was entirely likely that she probably always had – why had she never even  _noticed_ …?

They’d wasted so much  _time_.

“Jemma?” Fitz asked uncertainly, after she’d been quiet for likely too long.

Resolving to not waste anymore time, not even another  _second_ , Jemma rolled onto her side and lifted a hand to cup his cheek, tugging him around to face her. With his wide, worried gaze on her, she wordlessly leaned in and pressed her lips against his.

Fitz was clearly taken aback, releasing a stuttered gasp against her mouth, but it wasn’t long before he was responding to her kiss, one of his hands sliding along the curve of her waist to grasp at her hip. She smirked into the kiss, scooting closer until she could press herself along the length of him, slinging a leg over both of his.

As a child, Jemma had always thought that she belonged among the stars, but in that moment, there was she was still far beneath them, and she could finally see now that her home hadn’t been in the sky above her after all; instead it had always been right there in front of her.

-

When Jemma returned to her flat the following day, Daisy was waiting practically right at the door for her, just about chomping at the bit. “What happened?” she demanded, stepping back to allow Jemma to actually come inside.

The entire flight home, Jemma hadn’t been able to decide whether she wanted to smile with complete and utter joy, or to cry, because she already missed Fitz so much that her heart  _ached_  with it. Even now, it was still a toss-up. “Give me a moment to breathe, will you?” she teased, arching an eyebrow at Daisy.

“Well, at least tell me if you’re going to stay in touch this time,” she compromised. “I mean, you owe me that, since it  _was_  my idea for you to go see him.”

“Alright,” Jemma agreed. “Yes, we’re going to keep in touch – we can even talk while he’s up on the space station.”

Daisy grinned happily as she said leadingly, “So, things went well, then…?”

Nodding, Jemma finally allowed a sly smile to slip through as she set her suitcase down by the door. “Yes, I’d say that things went pretty well.”

Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Daisy questioned, “What’s the smile for?”

Taking a moment to set down her purse and toe off her shoes, Jemma then asked her, “What are you doing in six months, two weeks, and four days?”

Daisy blinked a couple of times, clearly caught completely off-guard by the seemingly off-topic question. “Uh…nothing, I guess? Why? And what does that have to do with Fitz?”

Reaching into her purse, Jemma came back with a little rectangle of paper, and held it out to Daisy as she answered all of Daisy’s questions by asking one herself, “Well then, would you like to attend my wedding?”

“ _What_?!” Daisy yanked the paper from her hand, quickly scanning it before reading aloud in disbelief, “‘You’re invited to the wedding of Leopold James Fitz and Jemma Anne Simmons’ – Jemma, what the actual  _hell_?!”

“That’s just a sample,” she admitted, nodding to the wedding invitation that Daisy was still holding. When she continued to gape blankly at her, though, she held up her left hand, wiggling her fingers to display the sparkling engagement ring that Fitz had placed there last night. With a warm smile, Jemma explained to Daisy simply, “You see, I found a lot more than just my best friend on my trip; I found the stars.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on tumblr - I'm theartofbeinganerd over there as well!


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